great book

this is a great book. i like that it tells you every week what to expect, what will change and how big the baby is. the illustrations are also very helpful. it helped me to really understand what was going on inside of me and how the baby was growing and changing every week. i buy this book for every friend expecting their first baby.

[Wednesday, November 19, 2008]

Not Bad

I own this book as well as What To Expect When You're Expecting. I like this book because it breaks it down into weeks versus the other is broken down more by the month. I believe both are helpful in their own way. This book gives you general details but What To Expect When You're Expecting is more practical because the question/answer format is very realistic for a new mom like me. I reference both books regularly. I say buy them both. You can always try to resell on Amazon after you're done with them!

[Thursday, November 13, 2008]

Old fashioned, medicalized and discouraging...

I was tempted by this books most obvious feature, that is, its week by week format. And indeed it gives valuable information on baby's growth, location of uterus at different stages of pregnancy and so on. However, it is generally the worst breed of old fashioned, highly medicalized and well... chauvinist pregnancy guides I thought no one published anymore.

Instead of being reassuring and promoting a woman's trust in her pregnancy wisdom it pictures her body as being in an emergency condition, constantly on the verge of crisis and failure. It will give you unbelievable number of situations when, as a reaction to some innocent symptoms, instead of lying down to rest and to listen to your body's needs you should... yes, call your doctor to make sure! I am sure that any pregnancy where tips from this book are followed is awfully distressing and ob / gyns do hardly anything else than answer phonecalls from allarmed patients.

The book gives very scarce information on natural remedies and approaches to pregnancy and it critisises home birth totally, without honestly discussing its benefits, challenges and when it may be advisable! It calles it dangerous! At the same time it dismisses any doubts about safety of ultrasound (on the ground that nothing suspicious was proved so far). It is clearly designed for women who want medicine to rule their pregnancies and births. And yet it puts "asking your mother about how you are carrying your baby" as a highly ranked method of determinng the sex - I just could not believe I was reading it!

I regret having bought it, primarilly because of my husband, who already started liking it for all the things he can learn about the development of the baby. And while I am immune to this book's scary stories, he may well get an idea that pregnancy is a hazardous adventure, which would be a real pity.

[Sunday, October 26, 2008]

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